1 of 1 Photo: Patricia Marroquin / Moment / Getty Images
To round out my Election Spotlight coverage of the Town of Jupiter, we hear from the candidates running for an open seat in the First District.
Phyllis Choy is a full-time active realtor who stays involved in Jupiter through volunteering and serves as vice chair of the Palm Beach County Housing Authority since being appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott in 2017.
She supports the town's building of its own Fire Rescue Department come October of next year after learning that staying with County Fire Rescue would have doubled the millage rate. But Choy says it goes beyond that.
"It will be a comfort to know that our police department and our fire department will work side by side training for an event that could take place in the future."
Candidate Teri Grooms ran unsuccessfully for the Town Council in 2017 and says concerns about leadership not putting residents first was a reason for her running this time around.
She was born and raised in Jupiter and says her family's history in the town goes back 100 years, which is how old Jupiter just turned this year.
"As far as the Fire Department is concerned, for me it was never really a case of whether we started our own fire department or we stayed with Palm Beach County Fire. It was more the process under which it happened. The residents did not have a vote on whether we stayed in Palm Beach County or not."
Grooms has served on Jupiter's Historic Resources Board and the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The third candidate, Andy Weston, is a financial and business consultant as well as a retired real estate broker and CPA.
He says he regularly attends Town Council meeting to try to get the road that he lives on widened. That's what sparked his interest to be on the Council.
He supports the formation of Jupiter Fire Rescue and he calls claims by some candidates that the residents didn't get a say in the issue "nonsense."
"I was down there for these meetings. I was listening to this. Okay, it didn't come out the way you wanted it. That's life. You don't say 'Unfair game.' The buzzer sounded. That issue, it's been voted on. It's been passed."
He's concerned that if enough candidates who don't want Jupiter's Fire Rescue Department to become a reality get elected, the Council could petition the court to get the process reversed.
All candidates in Jupiter also weighed in on the Suni Sands issue, among others. Jupiter races are all open to all registered voters in the town.